Chasing Eden Ch 01 03

This is a spinoff story of my previous series, "Jane in New York." This story follows what happens to Camilla after the series ended. She was one of my favorite characters, so I thought she deserved her own series. However, this a much darker story and doesn't have much of a sexual theme to it. Though there are points where this story alludes to sexual content, the overall theme is drama and mystery.

Though this is a spinoff of another story, you don't need to read the previous story to understand this one. I hope you enjoy this series!

--

Previously, on Jane in New York

As Camilla made her way back to her desk, she slowly walked past Jane's office. Pausing for a moment, she looked through the glass and saw the two women smiling at each other as they looked over the document. In that moment, she saw more than the expressions on their faces. She saw two people who were truly happy, and back together for good.

Camilla stared on, not showing any emotion in her appearance. But before moving forward, she took one final glance at Jane to appreciate the special bond they once had.

She took her last look at the amazing woman and, with a deep breath, she walked away.

I think it's time for a change of scenery. I've been at Sunshine since I was twenty, but it's time to go in a different direction.

She pulled her phone out and place the call. "Hey, this is Camilla. If your offer is still on the table... I'm ready to accept it."

One month prior

As Camilla walked through the door, she scanned the room, thinking,

This is an odd place to discuss a work opportunity.

The room was dimly lit, but the hotel was fancy enough to have a little bar in it.

Eventually, a man caught her attention by raising his arm. As she approached his table in the corner, she took a second to take his appearance in. He seemed close to her age, maybe a couple of years older. Although he was wearing a nice shirt with slacks, his hair was a bit messy, and he looked exhausted. Something about him looked familiar, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Are you Peter?" she asked, standing near the table.

"Yes, I am."

It surprised Camilla when the man didn't offer her a handshake. As a matter of fact, he hardly even looked at her as she took a seat across from him.

"Would you like a drink?"

The platinum blonde glanced down at the whiskey in front of the man before answering, "I'm fine... I just want to talk business and leave."

Without looking at her, the man handed over a packet. "This should explain the job. Take a look and let me know if you have any questions."

Camilla quickly glanced over the job description before flipping the page and seeing some information about Los Angeles. Putting the papers down, she shook her head and groaned, "This doesn't tell me anything. Why don't you just explain it since you're interested in hiring me, apparently? I don't even know who you are, by the way. Why don't you show some manners and at least introduce yourself?"

Finally, the man took a deep breath and looked at Camilla. There was an emptiness in his eyes, like a ghost who couldn't haunt. With no change to his dull voice, he spoke. "Sure... As you know, my name is Peter. I'm the Lead Director of Moonlight's marketing outreach team. We go to different parts of the country, looking for business partners, doing endorsement deals with models, and writing contracts with vendors. The board assigned me to create a team. I figured with your ability to scout and recruit, along with your experience in modeling, you'd be a good fit."

"You're... the Director of Moonlight's outreach team?"

"Newly appointed."

"How did you get that job? You don't seem like you have any people skills."

"I used to be an accountant for Sunshine. When the company acquired Moonlight, they wanted a team from the finance department to go over there and solve their money issues. I reluctantly took one of those positions, and when they realized how poor of a job the previous team was doing with expansion, they decided to promote someone from the finance team to replace them... They chose me for some reason."

"And you want me to work for you? I'm sorry, but why would I work for Moonlight when I already work for Sunshine Industries? This would be a lateral move at best, so I don't see this helping my career. Thanks for the consideration, but I'm happy where I'm at."

The man took a sip of his drink before simply nodding his head. "I understand." Then, just as Camilla was getting up from her seat, he asked, "Do you know why you didn't get the Branch Director position?"

Turning her head slowly, Camilla glared at the man as she felt her heart rate increasing. "How did you know I put in for that position?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he nonchalantly answered, "I know a lot of things... I'm in circles I don't care to be in... I never asked... but people talk about these things."

"You expect me to believe you have circles? You don't seem like the type of person who has friends."

"I don't have friends... but I was the head of finances... And now I'm the director of this project. I have to attend meetings... I hate meetings."

"Do you want to know what I think, Peter?" Camilla asked, as she sat back down and crossed her legs.

"Not really, but you're going to tell me, anyway."

"I think you're full of shit," the blonde said, giving the man a glare. "This is just some tactic to get me to leave Sunshine. I've been around recruiters and unfortunately, I see right through your strategy."

Once again, before Camilla could leave her seat, the man made another statement that gave her interest. "You know they're never going to promote you, right?"

"Oh, is that your tactic now? Well, since you've resorted to such desperate measures, I'll hear your sorry recruiting pitch. And go ahead and tell me why I didn't get the promotion while you're at it, since you seem to know so much."

The expression on the man's face never changed as he stared at her, emotionless. "They won't promote you into a director position because you're horrible with the financials."

"Financials?!" the platinum blonde asked, shaking her head in confusion.

"Your work ethic and ideas are always good, but Sunshine doesn't trust you to run a branch for monetary reasons."

"How would the financials disqualify me for a Branch Director position?!"

"Because you work for a publicly traded company with a CFO who reports each branch's individual numbers. Your numbers have always been poorly put together on your presentations. I know you think a marketing or accounting team would ultimately deal with those issues for you, but you have to at least show competence in that space. Even worse, you haven't shown any growth in that area since you started here. It makes it look like there's a cap on your potential."

"Okay, maybe I'm not that confident with the finances of running a branch... but I'm not going to sit here and let you take a low blow at me. You don't know anything about my growth story; you've only heard rumors. And I don't appreciate people who hear something from a third party and run with it like it's fact."

Peter stared at Camilla for a moment before calmly explaining, "These aren't just rumors. I've seen it, myself."

"Someone has shown you one of my flawed presentations?"

"Well, someone did give me one of your presentations just to look at," he explained, shrugging his shoulders. "But that's not what I'm talking about. I don't know if you remember, but I met you a long time ago... back when you first got hired by Sunshine Industries."

Suddenly, a light bulb came on in Camilla's head. She pointed at the mystery man before yelling, "I knew you looked familiar... Ugh, where did we meet again?"

"I had only been working with Sunshine for a couple of years. Back then, individuals from the finance team were selected to work with new employees on their retirement and benefits package."

"That's right! Now I remember! You were such a prick!"

"I was a young employee who was assigned to help you. You got frustrated when I tried to explain all the different options to you, so you started acting rude to me."

"Okay... it's starting to come back to me... I do admit I was a bit of a hothead at that age, but I'm sure you did something to piss me off."

"I made a suggestion that you select one of the general options. It's what most people pick when they don't want to individualize every little thing in their benefits package. A perfectly reasonable choice, but... you thought I was insulting you."

"There was something about the way you said it... you're not totally blameless. But anyway, you know I don't like you, so why would I ever work for you?"

"You wouldn't be working for me; you'd be working with me," the man explained. "I'd be hiring you as my consultant... and partner."

"Your partner, huh?" Camilla asked, nodding her head. "And why, of all people, would you choose me?"

"Because I know how good you are at everything outside of the financials. You have a knack for finding talent even when it doesn't benefit you. There will be financials involved because we have to come up with contracts and endorsement deals, but you won't have to worry about that."

"Is that so?" the blonde asked, trying to brush off the subtle compliment. "Seems kind of odd that it would just be us. Are you sure you didn't just see my Moonlight photos and want to be alone with me on a trip?"

"I'm not interested in you," the man said with a blank stare. "As a matter of fact, I dislike you quite a bit... but I don't need to like the people I work with. The obvious truth is that you're the best option because you can do the job of three others by yourself. That means fewer people for me to communicate with, it means fewer meetings for me, and best of all, you get triple the pay since we don't have to hire anyone else.

Camilla glanced down at the paper one more time as the air became filled with silence. With so much weighing heavily on her mind, she no longer knew how to feel about this dull but mysterious man.

The money sounds good...

she thought, silently staring at the man.

And even though we don't like each other, I kind of like that he wants to work with me.

"When does the trip start?"

"In a couple months."

"And how long does it last?"

"About four weeks. It's sort of a piece-by-piece contract, so you'll always have the option to go back to your old job."

Camilla took a deep breath as she mulled over the packet in front of her. "I'm still not sure... You've given me a lot to think about."

"Take your time and let me know when you come to a decision. It won't hurt my feelings if you reject the offer."

With a little snicker, the blonde Latina asked, "Do you even have feelings?"

With complete disregard for the question, Peter got up to his feet and took a step from the table. "Let me know when you come to a decision," he said, before slowly walking away.

Camilla remained in her seat for a few seconds, confused by the man's strange actions. After skimming through the packet again, she placed it into her bag before walking out.

Unbeknownst to the blonde woman, the man only pretended to leave. He remained on a staircase to the hotel lobby, watching until Camilla left. Once she was gone, he returned to the bar and took a seat.

"Another whiskey?"

"Yes."

***

Chapter 2

After entering the hotel bar for the second time in her life, Camilla quickly located Peter, sitting at the same table where she first met him. Her eyes were red and her hair was a mess, but she didn't care. The only thing that mattered to her was moving forward with her life.

"Is this the only place you know?" she asked, joining the unenthused looking man at his table. "It's a little odd of you to invite me to a bar twice in a row."

"Thank you for reaching out Miss Camilla," the man said, focusing his tired looking eyes on the blonde. "This is just my default. Would you rather have met somewhere else?"

"It's fine actually. I could use a drink, especially after the day I've had."

"So we leave for Los Angeles in two weeks..."

A sudden look of irritation came over Camilla's face and she glared at the man across from her. "I told you I needed a drink... and aren't you even going to ask me about the bad day I was hinting at?"

Peter stared into the blonde woman's blue contacts, never changing the expression on his face. "I wasn't going to ask you about your day. And as far as wanting to drink... you're in luck because this is a bar."

After an awkward moment of staring at each other, Peter continued, "I'd recommend the scotch, but it's a bit expensive. Maybe whiskey if you don't feel like spending the money."

Camilla's eyes were already red but that tone in her cheeks slowly started to match. She hoped he was joking because she couldn't fathom working with someone so uncaring, especially after leaving Jane's branch.

With a deep breath, Peter looked down at the table for a second before reconnecting with Camilla's eyes. "I guess I forgot... they have sodas if you really need to mix your drink... but I'm not a big fan of that. It takes away from the essence of the drink."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Camilla sternly responded, almost cutting Peter off before he could finish his sentence. "Can you not see that I'm distraught over leaving my branch? I've been with Sunshine for almost all of my adult life. And even though Moonlight is associated with them, this is still difficult for me!"

After a sigh, Peter simply got up from the table and walked towards the bar. "Fine, I'll order for you. I'll just get you a scotch."

Although it was a moot point, when Peter got back with the two glasses of scotch, Camilla felt a need to defend her independence. "I don't need you to buy me a drink," she explained, before grabbing and taking a sip of the expensive alcohol. "I was just hoping you would pretend you cared about me. My last two supervisors cared about me a lot, and I feel really vulnerable right now, leaving my company. But I wouldn't expect a shitty human being like you to understand that so I don't know why I even bothered."

After taking a sip from his own glass, Peter refocused his tired eyes on the distraught woman. "You're having a hard time leaving Sunshine, or leaving Jane?"

Rolling her eyes, Camilla responded, "I forgot about this bullshit where you pretend to know everything just because you have sources. Fuck you, Peter."

"Unfortunately, I have heard about your relationship with Jane. As much as I dislike these types of topics, I find it commendable that you hired her girlfriend, despite your silly love interest. But like I said, I'm don't care about that."

"Of course you don't care about it. I lost the woman I love, and now I'm trying to start the next chapter of my life. What the fuck would you understand about that, you unemotional bastard?"

There was a long and awkward silence, enough to make Camilla feel bad for her harsh words. Deep down inside, she could admit to herself she wasn't really mad at Peter. It was her own life that she was dissatisfied with, understanding that she had to leave the company she loved because she couldn't bear to see Jane so happy with someone else.

Much to Camilla's surprise though, once the long pause was over, Peter moved on as if nothing even happened. Never breaking character, he continued, "Anyway... we leave in two weeks. I'll take care of the flights and we will all have separate hotel rooms."

"All of us? How many are going?"

Before Peter could answer the question, he noticed his colleague walking towards him. Camilla turned her head and also noticed the man, who looked around the same age as Peter.

With an embracing smile, the man extended his hand to Camilla and introduced himself. "You must be Miss Camilla. Hi, I'm Eddie."

Although the blonde woman found Eddie's presence much more welcoming, she was taken aback by how different his demeanor was than Peter's. "Nice to meet you," she responded, shaking his hand while looking at Peter.

"We're a team of three," Peter explained, kicking out a chair for the third member. "Eddie has been on the same financial team with me for the past eight years. He's also a licensed attorney so he handles a lot of the paperwork."

"Yeah, sorry I wasn't here to introduce myself earlier," Eddie explained, taking a seat. "My wife needed me to pick our daughter up from school. But like he said, we will handle all the contracts and financials."

With a noticeably flat tone compared to the more enthusiastic Eddie, Peter added, "And you'll be in charge of the groundwork; meeting agents and models so you can evaluate how much the company should invest in them."

"I know you're kind of leaving me in charge of the field work, but do you have some sort of guidelines or criteria for the type of deals you're looking to make?" Camilla asked, raising her eyebrows in confusion. "I know you don't trust me with the financials, but I have to have some sort of information to provide potential clients."

"I'll catch you up on all that," Eddie assured before ordering more drinks for the group. "We just want you to focus on evaluating clients and the potential they offer through branding deals and sponsorships. We feel that's what you do best, so that's what we want you to focus on."

After finishing another drink, Camilla looked at Eddie and smiled. As she started to feel the alcohol hitting her system, she began to grow less weary of her words. "Thank you for explaining that to me in such a cordial manner," she expressed before looking back at Peter. "Maybe if Mister Asshole over here had people skills like you, he'd also have a wife and kids instead of being some lonely, unemotional, piece of shit."

After an awkward moment of silence, the realization of Camilla's rude statement started to dawn on her. However, before she could say a word, she noticed Eddie about to speak up.

Peter also noticed the colleague preparing to speak, so he put his hand out towards him. "Eddie, don't. It's fine."

Camilla watched on as the two men she would soon be working with stared at each other as if they were having a telekinetic conversation. In her eyes, it looked as if Eddie was worried about something, but Peter didn't want her to know about it. However, she knew she didn't have a good understanding of the two, so anything was possible.

Much to her shock however, Peter began talking about the project again, acting as if he didn't even hear the cruel words that came from her mouth. She followed suit, and they spent the rest of their short meeting together going over minor details.

After a few more drinks, and a lot more talking, Eddie stood up and looked towards Camilla. "We will explain the rest to you during the trip, but I think we have everything covered for now." Then with a smile and a nod, he offered, "Let me walk you out and call you a cab."

Camilla quickly said her awkward goodbye to Peter which was returned with only a head nod. But once she got outside, and was finally alone with Eddie, she asked, "What the hell is up with that guy?"

"Don't worry about him," Eddie responded with a chuckle. "He's really good at what he does, and you're really good at what you do. If you're more comfortable with it, I can just mediate everything between you two, and you won't even have to talk to him."

"I don't think that will be necessary but I appreciate the offer," Camilla responded with a smile. Then thinking back to some of the harsh things she said during the meeting, a worried expression came over her face as she asked, "Should I apologize for what I said? I was kind of a mess today."

"I wouldn't worry about it. Peter doesn't care about that stuff. Let's just focus on the job. That's all he cares about."